A King's Nightmare
by Luna Lockser
Summary: His failures haunt him as he sleeps. He sees his little sister die every time he closes his eyes. Will knowing the truth be enough to comfort the Fairy King? Will Ban even be able to give him the truth? Rated T because you can't write Ban without cursing. Part one of my Nightmare series


**Hey, Puddin's Here with another story for Nnt. I love King and Ban's complicated relationship, and also wanted to play on King's fears a bit, so this was born. Because let's face it, you can't lose someone like he lost Elaine and not have nightmares. This takes place in between King's arrival and Gowther's return.**

* * *

 _Fire surged around the clearing. King recognized the field he was in, but everything was wrong. The Fairy King's Forest was supposed to be a lavish field rich in plants and life, instead, it was a wasteland burned to the ground. It was still burning, but nothing he could do would help it._

 _From his left, he heard a strangled cry. Fear made him want to turn away, he just knew that whatever was there was something he never wanted to see, but his feet moved of their own will. What he saw before him shook him to the core. His baby sister laid beaten on the ground, burns and blood littered against her delicate skin._

 _As he scooped her up into his arms, she faced him slowly, hatred burning in her eyes. "Why did you leave? Why didn't you come back?" And before he could let a tear fall, she turned to ash._

Jumping up, cold sweat fell into the Fairy King's eyes, mixing with tears. Climbing out of his hammock, it was both a blessing and a curse that his roommate was absent. Ban wasn't there to witness the mess that was King during a nightmare, but it meant King would have to look farther to find him.

It was time, he decided, to have a conversation that he had been putting off since his return to the Seven Deadly Sins. He could no longer stand the pain of not knowing, and too long had King let the topic hang in the air.

He found the fox sin hypnotically chopping vegetables in the kitchen. Ban never stopped his knife, and the fairy thought he hadn't noticed his presence.

"What do you want~" cut through the silence like his knife.

The sloth sin fumbled for a moment, working up the courage and words. The tension in the air stagnated. Clenching his eyes tight, King finally managed force himself to speak.

"How exactly did Elaine die?"

The taller man's hands slipped in surprise, bringing the knife through his index finger instead of the vegetables. The finger fell to the floor as Ban hissed and moved to keep blood off the food. When he finally picked it up, he held it against his hand letting it reconnect itself.

Taking a calming breath he spoke his words uncharacteristically serious. "You don't need to know."

"Why the hell not? I'm her brother, I should have been there, I deserve to know!" King's voice broke with his desperation. Who was Ban to decide whether or not he knew?

The undead man never turned to face his comrade, instead choosing to grasp at the counter until it nearly broke. "You don't need to know because you don't need that fucking image in your head! I'm trying to spare your ass the pain of having it replay in your mind every damn day."

"You don't get it, I need to know. My imagination is killing me unless I know the truth I can't help but imagine all the worst possibilities and even if it's more horrific than those at least I'll know for sure." Anger and frustration visibly rolled off the small form as he tried to make the Sin understand. "Please Ban, I need to know how much my sister suffered because I wasn't there."

A strangled sigh escaped the Immortal's lips before he dropped the cut vegetables into the storage bin. "I'm not having the conversation sober" was all he called as he moved toward the bar.

King followed, accepting the bottle handed to him. The two sat in a tense silence until the undead man topped off his drink, grabbing another. "Where do you want to start?"

"Did it hurt?"

"It was a hole in her chest, I didn't ask but I can imagine it did. It sounded like it did when she breathed." If the fairy thought that he could handle the details, then Ban wouldn't hold out on the gory parts, even if it was painful to talk about.

"How big was the wound?"

"Big enough to see straight through."

"Was it quick?"

"She was conscious for 15 minutes before she died."

Ban finished his second drink of the night, replacing it in the blink of an eye, while King struggled to swallow his first one. He thought this would help him, but now he was aware of the tightening hold on his chest. Too late to go back now, though.

"What did she say, at the end?"

Quiet stretched for a few beats. "She was sad her home was burning and wished there was a way she could keep it safe" Ban lied, not wanting the fairy to feel the burden of knowing the forest was safe, but that the fairies viewed him as a traitor. The bandit visited it every few years, and even though he wanted to let it rot, he used his blood to sustain it because it was her last wish that it live on.

"Do you think she hates me?"

The white haired man did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked into the fairy's eyes, debating whether or not to answer. A part of him did resent the sloth sin, and wanted to make him pay just a bit for leaving Elaine alone, but he knew she wouldn't want him to. And Ban would do it to honor her.

"No, she wasn't capable of hate. Maybe she was sad and angry, but she was too good to hate anyone."

If Ban noticed the tears falling from his teammate's eyes, he didn't speak on it. Instead, he finished his drink, letting the smaller boy deal with his own emotions while he got ready for bed.

King watched the bandit leave the room and knew the conversation was over. Even though he would never fully be able to understand how the relationship between his sister and the former human had started, it was obvious how much the tall man cared for her.

So he was grateful to Ban. Grateful that his sister had company in her last days, had someone who treated her with care, and grateful that even though it was hard to talk about, the sin of greed had still had this discussion with him.

In the coming days, King's nightmares would still visit, but not as frequently. Even when they did, the fairy could comfort himself with the knowledge that his sister had not died alone, nor suffered for long, and that there was even a small chance her spirit was not cursing his name.

* * *

 **So did you like it? Props to my sister hinaluva281 for beta reading this for me. This piece will have a sister story, so look out for that!**


End file.
